So I got to spend some quality time with Slippery mode in the wagon last night.

Since I bought the 21” wheels with the car and the only option is summers, I also bought 19” wheels and snow tires for it, and they were on.

We had a couple inches of snow. The kind where it wasn’t enough to bother getting the plows out until overnight, and so we ended up with two inches of fairly packed down snow and it ended up pretty slick. To be clear this was a mix of in town and hilly back roads getting to town. I put the car in comfort mode to start and the first time I hit the gas, the wheels spun a lot. I immediately switched to Slippery mode and left it there for the night after that.

The engine stays in ICE mode almost all the time which I think is good as it keeps things consistent. The power management of the engine and the torque vectoring work incredibly well together and turn the car into a mountain goat. The 5400+ pounds helps it stay planted too.

Two things stood out about it though, one good and one less good, but not horrible:

The less good first. Going down hill and hitting the brakes lightly when it’s really slick, you can sometimes feel a wheel or two lock up briefly. The first time this happened it concerned me, but playing with it, it seems to be some sort of weird thing from the regenerative braking. It happens for a split second, then the physical brakes kick in w/ ABS and it’s very predictable.

The good thing I noticed is that even in “slippery mode”, It’s still an AMG…if you goose the gas mid corner it’ll let the backend come out in a very controlled manner. All in all I’m happy with the results for winter snow driving.

you can order with all seasons on the smaller wheels

What i meant if it wasn't clear is summers were the only option for the 21's, and there there was no way i wasn't getting the 21s

Really hope there is an all-season or all-weather tire available for the 21s by next winter.

There are already Goodyear Eagle F1 AS in our exact size, but they're not a great tire. For a very good AS you have the Conti DWS 06s. They come in the correct size for the front (265/35R21) but not that back. In the back it should be 295/30R21, but the Conti comes in 305/30R21...That's a very minimal difference in height (.5 mph difference at 70). I'll take that as a difference even w/ AWD. Conti also makes summer tires in 295/30R21 so there's hope they may make the DWS in that size, since it's a very popular tire in the segment.

^ Not sure where you are seeing that, but it’s not on TireRack or Goodyear sites.

There is an Eagle Sport AS for Tesla in our size, but the only tire available of any kind with the proper load rating is the OEM Michelin PS4S.

I misspoke in my post It is the not the Eagle F1, but the Eagle Sport that you mention, but it has the same load rating as the Michelin (101/XL front 102/XL rear). The Conti DWS i mentioned actually exceeds that (101/XL front, 104/XL rear).

The correct load rating for the rear is 105 (Y is the speed rating) with a higher load range of HL.

Today I learned....oh well, guess I'm sticking with summer/winter switches for a while.

Yes. My parts guy said the 19” winter wheel and tire package load ratings are 102H in the front and 105H in the rear. I believe the 20” load ratings for the all seasons are 104 and 105.

I’ve run DWS all year round and liked them.

Did you get the Mercedes winter wheel and tire package? What winter tires did you get?
Spinning winter tires on two inches of snow in comfort mode is surprising. Did you really hit the gas, or just go on power to start moving?

Good to hear.

It is less good if regenerative braking is locking the wheel on snow. Does it happen without touching the brakes after going off power? Have you tried setting regeneration to minimum? Does slippery mode set regeneration to minimum? I was planning on driving with maximum regeneration, but if it locks the wheels on snow, I’ll only use max regeneration in the dry.

This is good news. An AMG should let the rear go out. AWD should help it pull out of the slide and do so in a controlled manner.. I find it more dangerous when the car decides to cut all power itself.

I am wondering if the forged 21” wheels will survive potholes better than the 20” wheels due to improved strength. I figure the 21” tires might not survive spring potholes as well as the 20” tires, but who knows? It’s hard to get that data.

I would be way too scared to drive the 21” tires over New York potholes. It’s mostly summer time when I’m driving in New Hampshire, so I don’t know about NH potholes.

Honestly, I’m scared to drive the 18” tires on NY roads in the winter. The sidewall is still small.

The E53, has no spare. So when a pothole eats a tire , you flatbed the car to the shop

The Mercedes Car-to-X feature helps a lot to avoid potholes. IMHO, this feature alone can justify the annual $150 subscription fee.

I did get the Mercedes package. Pirelli P Zero Winters, 19" wheels, 105 weght rating in the rear.

As mentioned in the original post, they didn't plow right away, so it was very packed with fresh fluff on top. That added to the slickness. It was was a smooth low acceleration, but as it switched from EL to ICE there was a slight blip of throttle. definitely not gunning it, but a bit of an unintentional goose of the throttle, but nothing major. if it wasn't slick out it wouldn't have been noticed.


It was coming off power on a down hill. I thought you could only set regen strength in EL mode? This was in Slippery mode. Also keep in mind, this was my third day with the car, and it's also my first Hybrid. I'm still getting used to it and being super sensitive. As I learn.

Absolutely. If i remember correctly, you're the one that also had a 2010 S4. It felt very similar to my S4. I'm very happy with how it handled.

New Hampshire doesn't really have a ton of potholes, instead thanks to all the granite we live on we get frost heaves. not as dangerous to rims as potholes, but still no fun.

How much clearance do you have between the wheel barrels and the calipers with the 19" wheels? Does your car have the 390mm front rotors?

I do have the 390mm rotors. It's tight, but safe. I'll try to remember to take a picture and post it tomorrow. In germany, you can actually get the car with 19" wheels from the factory. I don't know why they don't offer it as an option here.

If you use two of these 200mm long wheel hangers it will help you slide the wheels over the calipers without scuffing the paint.

https://steelmantools.com/products/s...ide-tool-61009

Nice.

Nice, thanks for the heads up!

Good to hear. If I go with winter wheels, I would start with this set and then change to Cross Climate 2 tires for later years.

If the blip was a rev match then it would minimize the impact on traction. It wouldn’t surprise me if they implemented rev matching to make the EV to ICE transition smooth. These cars are powerful, I also wouldn’t be surprised if slippery mode operates in a higher gear.

I think you can only set regen in EL, so you are right that it wouldn’t be available in comfort or slippery mode.
This is also going to be my first PHEV. I didn’t even think of the the potential of regenerative braking locking wheels until you mentioned it. There will be some learning for me.

Yes. I had the 2010 S4. I really liked how the S4 handled in the snow. Getting the rear out in the S4 was very controllable. The only thing that I didn’t like was they moved to a electric parking brake instead of the handbrake and there was no way to modulate it in the snow. It would have been even more fun with a handbrake.

I think you asked what the E53 microfiber headliner looks like. I had the leather and Alcantara seats in the S4. If you had those seats, then imagine the Alcantara from the S4 seats on the interior pillars and headliner of the E53.

Here are the 19" wheels with 390mm rotors. There's about a half inch of clearance at the tightest spot. I really wish they would have picked nicer looking wheels for the package. I asked if i could get specific wheels and they said it would double the cost of the package. Given how hard it is to source the right wheels/tires for this car, I went with it. I'll be finding something more to my taste.

Are your Winter wheels a staggered set up, or square? How do the offsets on the wheels compare to the 21" wheels?